Download The Decline of the Roman Empire

The Decline of Rome
The Late Empire, Its
Challenges, and the Emperors
that Pulled it Down
Pax Romana
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Augustus is the end of the Republic and the beginning of
the Pax Romana
The world had never seen such a long period of peace,
order, effective organization, cultural diffusion, and
prosperity
The Julio-Claudians (14-68 AD) were marked by
corruption, conspiracies, decadence, and straight-up
lunacy, but they maintained the essence of Augustus’
achievements
The Flavians got off to a good start but started to lose
control
• Built the coliseum
• Destroyed the temple at Jerusalem
• Domitian assassinated leading Romans and was himself
assassinated
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The “5 good emperors” led Rome through it pinnacle
The Pax Romana was a “Time of Happiness” and Rome’
mission was fulfilled: to create a world-state without
needless fighting and excessive use of military force
“Time of Happiness”
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Constructive rule- Romans were tremendous
engineers
• Built 53,000 miles of roads from Scotland to the Euphrates
• Goods were carried through a sea that was safe from
pirates
• A stable currency kept a thriving economy
• Citizenship extended to almost everyone after 212 A.D.
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Improvements for Slaves and Women
• Freeing slaves became common and less conquests meant
less slavery
• Status of women also improved during this time
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An orderly world community-
• Romans solved the problems of the Greek city-state: civil
war, intercity warfare, attitude the divided Greeks from nonGreeks
• The world community was global- it preserved the GrecoRoman culture but broke down the barriers between nations
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Universalism and cosmopolitanism
Roman Culture in the Late Empire
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Literature and History
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Virgil’s Aeneid- National glory- religion, civic pride, family
Livy’s History of Rome- Glorified Rome
Horace- joy of wine, value of moderation, beauty of friendship
Ovid- romance and humor
Tacitus- denounced roman emperors and imperialism
Juvenal- attacked evils of Roman society
Philosophy
• Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius- stoics who saw the
universe as governed by reason
• The gap between Greek philosophy and Christianity was
narrowing
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Science
• Ptolemy- geocentric theory- math, geometry, astronomy
• Galen- dissection, medicine
Roman Entertainment
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Rome presents a paradox here because
they had a high standard of civilization yet
their entertainment was barbaric
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Battles to death
Animal fights (ex. tigers and elephants)
Animals tore apart men dressed in animal skin
Women fighting
Dwarfs fighting
Few questioned the barbarism
Trouble on the Horizon
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Uprisings in Egypt, Gaul, and Judea
Native loyalties begin to emerge
The economy had problems too- only
a small portion of the population was
reaping the benefits of the empire
Bread and Circus kept the rest quiet
• Discontent was growing as the economic
and cultural gap increased
A Spiritual Awakening
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Spiritual stagnation- a change in values marked a
decline in the Greco-Roman world
The value of humanism was challenged by
mythic-religious movements
Greek rationalism never completely subdued the
influence of mythic-religious mentality
Religious cults promised immortality and the
proliferation of these cults is an expression of the
transformation of classical values
Like mystery religions looked for something
beyond this world
Neo-Platonism
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Replaced stoicism and transcended reason
Subordinated reason to mysticism
Plotinus (205-270)- most influential neo-Platonist
• Retained elements of Plato's rationalism but was
intrigued by Plato’s otherworldliness
• He desired union with the One, or the Good- sometimes
called God
• He believed that the One transcended all human
knowledge and required a mystical leap
• Purification of the soul
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Mystery religions intoxicated the masses and
classical civilization was being transformed
• Quest for the divine
The Decline
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The 3rd century brought crises
Degeneration of the army
• Soldiers waged war on civilians for loot
• They made and unmade emperors
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Germanic people took advantage of the
weakened military and crossed the RhineDanube to loot and destroy
Economy is stricken
• Ruined farms, taxation, trade disrupted,
debased coinage, inflation, disrupted
transportation, damaged middle class, forced
labor, famine
The Emperors of the Late Empire
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Septimius Severus
Caracalla and Elagabalus
Diocletian
Constantine
Julian
Claudius Julianus
Theodosius
Septimius Severus
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When Commodus died each of the 3 major
armies (Syrian, Danube, British) appoints
an emperor and once again civil war
ensues
Severus established a military autocracy
Decisions were made for the good of the
troops
He was African therefore he held no
loyalty toward Italy
Focused all attention on the provinces
Removed the tax break that the Italians
had
Allowed tribesman to join the military and
rise to the highest positions
Caracalla and Elagabalus
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Caracalla (MARCUS AURELIUS SEVERUS
ANTONINUS) was made emperor with his brother
Geta as assistant emperor by Septimius
He kills Geta
Believed he was Alexander the Great reincarnated
spent large amounts of money on ridiculous wars
extended citizenship to all who lived in the Roman
Empire
Elagabalus killed Caracalla with the help of
Alexander Severus
Elagabalus ends up being murdered by Alexander
Rome is busy with it's civil wars and multitude of
leaders for 50 years meanwhile the rest of Europe
is building up their troops
Rumors
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He would wear a tunic made wholly of cloth of
gold, or one made of purple, or a Persian one
studded with jewels, and at such times he would
say that he felt oppressed by the weight of his
pleasures. He even wore jewels on his shoes,
sometimes engraved ones - a practice which
aroused the derision of all, as if, forsooth, the
engraving of famous artists could be seen on the
jewels attached to one's feet. He wished to wear
also a jeweled diadem in order that his beauty
might be increased and his face look more like a
woman's; and in his own house he did wear one.
Historia Augusta Life of Elagabalus XXIII
Brothels and Taverns
...And even at Rome he did nothing but send out
agents to search for those who had particularly
large organs and bring them to the palace in
order that he might enjoy their vigor. Life of
Elagabalus V; VIII
Diocletian
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Born poor
Joined the army; started at the very bottom and worked his
way up to becoming emperor
Establishes an autocracy
Led successful campaigns against the Franks and the
Bergandians
Divides the empire into west and east sections
Each section will have an Augustus and a Caesar
He becomes the Augustus of the east with Galerius as Caesar
Maximian becomes Augustus of the west with Constantius as
Caesar
Both the east and west are broken into 4 Prefectures
Each of these is broken into 12 diocese
Each diocese is headed by a vicar
Once again imposed paganism and outlawed Christianity
After 20 yrs he passes the thrown to his Caesar
Constantius dies immediately after he is appointed
Constantine
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Appointed by the army
Civil war ensues again
Built a new capital- Constantinople
Byzantine, present day Istanbul
Called the most important emperor of Late
Antiquity
His victory at the Milvian Bridge counts among
the most decisive moments in world history,
while his legalization and support of Christianity
and his foundation of a 'New Rome' at Byzantium
rank among the most momentous decisions ever
made by a European ruler. (http://www.romanemperors.org/conniei.htm)
Milvian Bridge Constantine was commanded in
a dream to place the sign of Christ on the shields
of his soldiers.
Converts to Christianity
Arianism and Nicaea
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Controversy over the relationship between
the God the father and Jesus
Arius said that Jesus was a lesser God
than the father
Constantine summoned the First
Ecumenical Council on 20 May 325
Arius was condemned
Other matters were solved as well (canon)
Constantine’s Death
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Dies from illness and his sons inherit the
empire
Constantine II, Constantius, Constans
Civil war once again ensues and all 3
brothers die
Julian takes over when the brothers die
Executes Christians again
Flavius Claudius Julianus reigned from 360
to 26 June 363
Dies fighting the Persians
Invasions in the West
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Theodosius I dies in 395 and leaves the west to
his son Honorius and the East to his son
Arcadius; both were considered equal
Goths Vandals and Huns begin to tear down the
western empire
The Visigoths under King Alaric had settled in the
Balkans but saw an opportunity to invade
410 Rome was sacked
Vandals had swept through Spain and came to
Occupy Roman Africa; they sacked Rome in 455
476
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Odoacer (a barbarian) and his troops were
mercenaries in the service of Rome
In 476 his men revolted and proclaimed Him
king.
Odoacer defeated the Romans at Piacenza and
Ravenna (the West Roman capital).
Finally he deposed the last Roman emperor of the
West Romulus Augustus in 476
Eastern Emperor Zeno sent Theodoric the Great,
King of the Ostrogoths to fight Odoacer in 488
They agree to share authority in Italy but
Theodoric’s men assassinate Odoacer
Theodoric Names himself Master of Italy, ruler of
Goths and Romans
Decline of Rome
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Why did Rome Decline?
Lost a strong and effective emperor
Lost disciplined military
Lost a strong senate
The economy collapsed
Bread and circus made people lazy
Bread and circus is basically food and
entertainment
There was a shortage of silver
Collapse of civil service
No city officials
Lack of efficient administration
The “Fall”
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1- The process lasted hundreds of
years
2- only the western half fell; the
eastern half endured as the
Byzantine empire until the mid 15th
3- No single explanation is sufficient
for Rome’s decline
Perry’s Reasons
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The role of the Germanic Tribes
• Their pressure aggravated Rome’s internal problems
• The Romans had to impose heavy burdens on its people to maintain
the armed forces
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The Roman spirit had turned to apathy and a lack of interest in
public life
• Even though the Romans far outnumbered the barbarians
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Political and Military Considerations
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Sapped the initiative and spirits of the citizens
The state became more of an enemy than the Germans
Quality of Roman soldiers deteriorated
Large numbers of barbarians were recruited
No loyalty to Greco-Roman civilization
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Population shrank while costs to run the empire shot up
Fewer workers were available for agriculture
Manpower for the army dwindled
Cities lacked industry
People began to abandon their farms for the safety of the latifundia
Economics
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Others turned to banditry
The Roman Legacy
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The center of gravity shifted from the
cities to the landed estates in rural areas
Local aristocrats gained in power
Rome left an important idea: the idea of a
world empire united by common law
By preserving and adding to the Greek
culture, Rome strengthened the
foundations of Western Civilization
The Latin language
Christianity developed within and was a
product of the Roman culture